Two nights ago, I found out that ADW would be painting the gates of South William to shout for Equality and love as part of Will St Leger’s #WallsOfEquality project.

As a big fan of both artists, I took a detour on my way out of the city to take some pictures of the piece. Quite clearly, it’s beautiful, engaging and it only takes two words to say the right thing “YES EQUALITY”

However, while taking these pictures, I was reminded why we are doing this; why we’re showing #DublinInLove. Minding my own business, an ‘interesting ‘ character looked at me and said “ni**er poof”.

I’m not quite sure why they felt the need to but we need to stomp it out. It’s water off a ducks back and we need to make sure we’re saying yes to love and yes to equality come May 22 ❤️

The forthcoming referendum on Marriage Equality will give the people of Ireland the opportunity to end discrimination against gays and lesbians who wish to marry.

In a pluralist, fair and modern society, legal unions between consenting adults should be protected by law equally, regardless of gender. Voters will be asked to amend Article 41 of the Constitution and approve the thirty-fourth amendment contained in the Marriage Equality Act 2015. The wording of the amendment will be: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinctions to their sex.”

Being an artist and an activist I want to use my best skills to further the rights of minorities and bring about a better, brighter society for everyone to live in. Recently I’ve approached a number of business owners in Dublin with the prospect of allowing street artists in favour of Marriage Equality to paint murals on their sites. The feedback has been very positive and I would like to spread this idea nationwide. As it’s difficult to project manage each site I’m looking for artists and businesses to work together.

For Artists:

Are you an experienced street artist in Ireland? (preferably outside of Dublin)

Do you have a working relationship with a commercial property owner/business?

Are you AND the commercial property owner/business in favour of Marriage Equality?

Can you work with commercial property owner/business to paint a positive Marriage Equality mural in early April?

For commercial property owners/businesses:

Are you a commercial property owner/business in favour of Marriage Equality (outside of Dublin)?

Do you have a suitable wall space that an artist can produce a mural for Marriage Equality?

Can you work with a locally based artist to produce positive Marriage Equality mural in early April?

If you can answer yes to these questions please get in touch: willstleger@gmail.com

FAQ

As this is a grassroots initiative there is no budget to pay the artists or property owner/businesses. It’s value is social.

I have put together a short brief to guide the artists on the overarching concept of their mural

Spaces such as: External shutters/walls which are visible to the public are ideal

Equality is important to me and therefore artist selection is based on gender balance as much as skill.

All work must be done with written permission from the property owner/business. I will not condone unauthorized murals.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a street art project for Kenco coffee. It’s based on Kenco’s new ad campaign Coffee vs Gangs – Kenco buy their coffee beans from farmers in Honduras, but this beauiful South America country is murder capital of the world. With crime rates roaring due to gang violence, Kenco decided to get actively involved in trying to create another way for young people that are exposed to this on a daily basis.

Kenco are are taking 20 young people from diffeent backgrounds and bringing them into the coutryside to grow coffee, investing in them and giving them a new direction in life. I find this a brave move for a industry that has generally produced adverts that talk about the product’s ‘richness and smoothness’ but rarely focus on the poverty and roughness that the producers country experiences.

When I first saw the advert I was stuck by the contrast of imagery between the gang life and the warmth of the countryside, this became the basis for the street art pieces I painted in Dublinin early October this year. In my mural there’s a contrast between the dark soil, decay and death that refelects the gang life and what is above the ground, which is a colourful coffee plant with rich colours and sunshine. We live in a world where buzz words like ‘Corporate Responsibilty’ are banded around without knowing what that means, but Kenco are doing something very different, they are getting involved, rolling their sleeves up and making a measureable difference. Follow the journey for these young people in Honduras by visiting www.coffeevsgang.com